As the title says, you'll learn how to write a decent brooding character. Brooding/Brooder/Brood is to think deeply or a lot so usually these characters are known as the dark and mysterious ones of any series or book. Often times they are written poorly, being used as the simple romantic interest because they're so mysterious and other times they're portrayed beautifully.

For me, to write the perfect brooding character you need to have a backstory as to why they're like this. You do not grow up to be reserved or quiet without a reason (sometimes).You could have the character have a troubled past or you could even have them grow up as the only child in a family so they act more mature than the other characters. It could literally be anything good or bad!

My character Jasper from a story I have been saving to post is a brooder in some ways. He often goes over why a person reacts the way they do, considering different reasons and considering which is the most plausible of the ideas he came up with and he often finds himself to get lost in the scenery of nature and will ponder over the meaning of certain things that are just out of his control or even about things he just can't figure out.

An example;
How could I, a skinny little boy suffering from amnesia, feel somehow at peace on top of this hill overlooking the field I had been dragged into by Rini only hours earlier. I sat with my knees close to my chest, my thin brows furrowed as I chewed on my lip. Why was it that this looked so familiar and yet I couldn't quite place my finger on it?

He often distances himself from the others in the story in order to think clearly. I'm definitely not an expert on this type of stuff but the broody characters tend to be slightly anti-social and sometimes can feel overwhelmed being surrounded by large crowds of people.

HOW NOT TO HANDLE A BROODER

Clarisse watched as Hendrickson placed a finger upon his lip and furrowed his brow, falling deep into thought as he stood before her. He was so mysterious,  that man. She felt as if she were being pulled in by a strange rope, her heart pounding the more and more she found herself falling for him. She liked mystery and excitement afterall.

Being a brooder doesnt mean it should be THE ONLY trait a character falls in love with.  There is always more to a person than what is shown, even in literature!! Brood types are good for pushing plots forward  and they're great for stories like action, fantasy, thrillers/mysteries, and even horrors if you dont want it to be a cliché horror. They're great for these types of stories because in action you always have to think about what your opponent may do next so having a character calculating next moves are great. It puts you on edge.

In fantasy, this world you have in the palm of your hands has so much potential to become something and surely not everything has been discovered yet! Having a brooder can help during adventures especially if you want to expand the world for the reader because the brooder will always give insight to things your MC may not think about.

Thrillers and mysteries? They're perfect for being detectives.  No need to expand on this.

Horror? Well, you don't want it to be super cliche where the mc has to run forever from their attacker until they get help right? It gets boring and overused. Bring the fight to them ;)

Uh I think this is all I have, some things may be wrong since I only came back to  this story after many months to finish this chapter so big yikes.

Questions or requests? Leave them in the comments please :)